Stamp decorating of articles of manufacture



Aug. 28, 1945. u. H. KELLER STAMP DECORATING OF ARTICLES 0F MANUEACTURE Filed Jan. 12, 1942 gg i vINVENTOR Patented Aug. 28, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STAMP DECORATING F ARTIGLES 0F MANUFACTUBE Jay H. Keller, Sebring, Ohio Application January 12, 1942, sei-iai No. 426,413 2 claims. (ci. 101479) i This invention relates to an improvement in stamps for 'applying decorative or design motifs C to articles of manufacture. The invention is directed particularly to stamps of the type utilized for decorating plates and saucers and bowls and similar articles of a ceramic nature although the improvement is adapted to be used in the decoration of other kinds of surfaces, such as wood or leather articles or the like. Its benefits are appreciated particularly in the decoration of chinaware, since the surfaces to which the decoration is to be applied are slick and shiny and the dii'- iiculty of obtaining sharp, unblurred designs is most pronounced.

The rubber stamp technique, upon which theA present invention is predicated, is well known at the present .time and consists essentially in relieving' the surface of a piece of rubber or the like to provide a design thereon; a iilm of tacky ink or the like containing coloring pigment is applied upon the surface of this stamp and, when the stamp is impressed upon the surface to be decorated, some of the ink becomes detached from the stamp and remains deposited upon the surface of the ware. In the case of ceramic articles the pigment of the ink is a coloring oxide and the ware is` fused after being decorated so as to unite the decoration with the ware.

By virtue of the slickness of a china plate or the like there is diiculty in avoiding blurring of the design during its application. This has been overcome lto some degree by mounting the stamps upon resilient cushionsy so that the cushions tend to absorb any movement which might otherwise be exerted upon the stamp itself. This expedient is quite satisfactory when the surface to be decorated is of a at or convex nature. However. blurring has continued to be a dlcult problem in applying decorative motifs to sloping or concave surfaces of the kind one finds at the inside of a bowl or the ange of a plate or saucer.

The principal object of the present invention has been to provide a stamp structure and a method suitable for decorating such areas.

One method proposed to avoid the diiculty in the past has been to configurate or angulate the surface of the stamp so that it corresponds with or simulates the concavity or angulation of the surface it is toengage. Some satisfactory results have been obtained but the percentage of rejections is high because of blurring of the design. I have discovered, briefly, thatx the diiilculty can be overcome simply and inexpensively by so arranging the contour of the stamp with respect to the article to be decorated that all portions of the stamp area do not engage the surface to be decorated simultaneously but so that the area of contact between the stamp and the ware grows or gradually increases as the stamp is impressed upon thek ware. By this arrangement the portion of the stamp which is first to come into engagement with the ware offers support against blurringfor the next suc. cessive portion to come into contact with the surface, and this action continues until al1 of the stamp surface is impressed upon the ware. When pressure is relieved the reverse action is obtained and the portion last to contact the ware is the rst to depart. By this method reproduction in sharp detail has been and can be obstamp used for the decoration has its surfaceA configurated not to simulate the contour of the saucer but so as to be dissimilar to it. For example, the angularity of the stamp may be considrably less than the angularity of the saucer flange. When the stamp is impressed upon the flange the portions first brought into engagement are at the periphery with incremental portions of the stamp face area successively contacting or "rolling across the surface of the ware until eventually the inner edges of the flange are contacted by lthe inner edges of the stamp. A similar result also is obtained if the reverse procedure be followed, that is, by having the angularity of the design considerably greater than the angularity of the flange. In this case the inner edges of the stamp are first to contact the inner portions of the saucer flange.

In using this technique it is requisite that the stamp be mounted on a blanket of considerable resiliency so that the inequality between the stamp configuration and the ware configuration can be accommodated through compression of the blanket. Sponge rubber is a suitable material for this purpose. The thickness of the blanket will of course depend upon the degree of inequality between the stamp and ware con-` relative configuration of a typical saucer and a dissimilar configuration of a stamp adapted to used fmdecgrating the saucer in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing the stamp impressed upon the saucer.

Figure 3 is a face view of the stamp showing a portion of a typical design thereof.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a plate showing a portion of the decoration applied thereto.

The article to be decorated is illustrated in the drawing as a saucer having a central base portion l and a flange 2 projecting outwardly and upwardly in the usual manner. It is desired, say, to provide an annular band of decoration on the ilange of the saucer at the slightly curved lip portion thereof.

The stamp utilized for this purpose consists of a base member 3 having a bore l in its central portion and locating holes 5 extending into the base and spaced radially from the bore 4. A metal plunger member 8 is seated against the back face of the base piece 3, with locating pins 'I extending from the face of the plunger into4 the locating bores 5 of the base piece to center this or similar pieces on the metal support.

In the preferred structure a metal sleeve 8 is seated within the bore I of the base piece and a stud 9 extends from the plunger t through the sleeve -to carry a nut l0 for fastening the base piece to the plunger member. The plunger may be driven mechanically, one such machine especially suited for high production purposes being shown in copending Keller and Fahnert United States patent application Serial No. 426,414. In the alternative, the plunger may be equipped with a handle for using the stamp by hand.

The central portion of the base piece 3, at the forward face. is cupped out as at il to provide clearance for the nut I0, and also to provide a raised annular portion i2 for supporting an annular compressible blanket it. The blanket Il is cemented to the face l2 and the outer face of the blanket in turn carries the stamp face i4 which bears the design indicia to be reproduced upon the ware.

The face Il is appropriately relieved or cut away in the non-design area so that the design stands out in relief from the stamp face. As shown in Figure 3, this stamp face may be a continuous annular piece or it may be built up in segments matched together along the joining lines I5. These stamps may be made in any suitable manner as, for example, by anodic deposition, by moulding reproduction, or by hand carving.

As will be seen from Figure 1, the face Il forms a frusta-conical surface which is of diierent angularity from that of the inner surface of the flange 2 of the saucer to be decorated, this difference in angularity being shown for purposes of illustration as the angle a between the line A, taken along the face of the stamp and the line B, which approximates the angularlty of the saucer lip.

As will be seen in Figure 1, the angle a is an angle of substantial value illustrating the substantial dissimilarity between the contour of the stamp face while it is in the uncompressed condition and the contour of the saucer lip.

Figure 2 illustrates the relative location of the parts when the face of the stamp is impressed upon the saucer lip. It will be seen that the portions of the stamp adjacenty its periphery are the first to engage the saucer face. Under greater pressure adjacent portions of the stamp are moved into engagement with the saucer face while the inner edge is the last to engage the work surface. Thus, in Figure 2 the stamp is shown impressed in its entirety upon the saucer face., Under this condition the rubber blanket I3 has been distorted because of the dierence in conigurations between the stamp and saucer faces, g

and has provided the necessary compensation for such in uality. When the pressure on the stamp is released the inner edge is the ilrst to leave and the portion adjacent the periphery is the last to leave. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the contour of thestamp face is such that the portion ilrst to engage the ware is the outer portion. However, as described previously, the invention also contemplates a stamp structure in which the portion first to engage the ware is at the inner edge.

The control of the angularity of' the stamp face 1 i'relative to the work to be decorated is provided most easily by controlling the face portion i2 of the base piece 3 and by employing blankets it which are of uniform thickness. Thus, an annular ring may be cut out of a sheet of sponge rubber of suitable thickness and when this ring is cemented to the face t2 of the base piece its outer surface will be at the proper angle corresponding to the angle of the face I2. The base piece may be turned out of wood most economically and the face I2 may be cut to the proper angle at such time.

In a typical application like the one disclosed. the angle 0 may be approximately 25. As a general guide, good results are obtained when the angle of the stamp face is about 40% of the angle of the ware to be decorated or vice versa. However, it is to be noted that considerable latitude is permitted in this difference in angularity and ware to be decorated, while the controls described are exercised with respect to the contour of the stamp face.

Having described my invention, I claim:

l. A stamp for decorating a concave dish-like surface of an article of manufacture, which comprises a stamp carrier having a conical face, a resilient pad having substantially parallel faces, one of which is attached tothe conical face of said stamp -carrier, and a stamp member bearing a design upon one of its faces and having the other of its faces secured to the outer face of said resilient pad, the parallelism of the faces of said pad enabling the conically disposed face of said stamp to engage and be impressed upon a dish-like surface of diierent angularity without substantial difference in the degree of compression at various local areas of said pad.

the conical face of said stamp carrier, the said pad having substantially parallel faces whereby the stamp member is disposed at substantially the same angle of conicality as the conical face of said stamp carrier.

JAY H. ELLER. 

